Movie · 1987 · Crime, History, Thriller · 1h 59m · R · English
Curator score: 7.6/10 (654.2K ratings)
What are you prepared to do?
Overview
Elliot Ness, an ambitious prohibition agent, is determined to take down Al Capone. In order to achieve this goal, he forms a group given the nickname “The Untouchables”.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.6/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.85/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Metacritic: 79
TMDB: 7.8/10
Director
Brian De Palma
Production
Paramount Pictures, Linson Entertainment
Cast
Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Richard Bradford, Jack Kehoe, Brad Sullivan, Billy Drago, Patricia Clarkson, Vito D'Ambrosio, Steven Goldstein, Peter Aylward, Don Harvey, Robert Swan, John J. Walsh, Del Close, Colleen Bade, Greg Noonan, Sean Grennan
Where to watch
fuboTV, Peacock Premium, MGM Plus, Philo, Peacock Premium Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, propulsive gangster-crime thriller with big set pieces, strong star turns, and a knowingly heightened sense of style. It’s more operatic and crowd-pleasing than strictly realistic, but that’s a large part of the appeal.
Best for
Viewers who like stylish 80s crime movies
Fans of period gangster dramas
People who enjoy cat-and-mouse lawman vs. mob stories
Audiences who want memorable set pieces and a big score
Skip if
You want a gritty, low-key procedural
You dislike heightened melodrama or occasional silliness
You prefer a fully historically grounded portrayal
You’re not in the mood for broad, old-school blockbuster crime filmmaking
Overview
The Untouchables is Brian De Palma turning Prohibition-era crime into a grand, muscular spectacle. It has the clean moral geometry of a classic studio-era showdown, but De Palma keeps slipping in flourishes that make the whole thing feel bigger, stranger, and more self-aware than a standard cops-and-gangsters picture. The result is a movie that plays like prestige pulp: serious about its stakes, gleeful about its style.
Worth noting
The cast is a major part of the pleasure. Kevin Costner gives the film a steady center, Sean Connery brings warmth and bite, and Robert De Niro makes Capone feel like a looming piece of theater. The supporting ensemble and Ennio Morricone’s score help sell the movie’s swagger, while the set pieces deliver the kind of sharp, crowd-pleasing escalation that keeps it moving even when the tone gets a little exaggerated.
Bottom line
If you’re open to a crime film that treats mythmaking as part of the fun, this is an easy recommendation. It’s not subtle, and it doesn’t always care about tonal consistency, but it knows exactly how to build momentum and how to make each confrontation feel iconic.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems (3.5★) · 4471 likes
Gotta respect a movie that introduces a nice little girl in the first few minutes and then immediately blows her up
Matt The Snapper (4★) · 2213 likes
Needed more De Niro and less Costner.
fran hoepfner (3.5★) · 1425 likes
honestly SO silly, probably too silly for me. the Morricone score goes off too hard (loose endorsement). Andy Garcia has never been more beautiful (hard endorsement). great set pieces, generally, though perhaps no scene in the movie will live up to the pure joy of the second the credits started rolling, Dad shouting "who played THE BABY in THE UNTOUCHABLES?" into his phone.
that said, I feel obligated to address my position of power as a Letterboxd microceleb (with regards… more
Misha Beattie (4.5★) · 1213 likes
Prohibition Avengers
matt lynch (4★) · 1099 likes
Man this movie is such a blast. Mamet doing a quintessential treatise on moral and ethical purity, treating this pulp like it's "A Man for All Seasons", and then just as miraculously De Palma is like fuck all this Thomas More shit, I'm making pulp here. And Morricone, I mean honestly.
[70mm]